Our Casa Program
Are you looking for a Montessori preschool or Casa program for your child in Guelph? The Montessori School of Wellington is the only CCMA-accredited Montessori school in the Guelph area.
A Montessori school provides a wonderful child-centred learning environment, as an alternative to your typical preschool or kindergarten program.
The Montessori School of Wellington’s Casa program accepts children between 2 ½ and 3 ½ years of age, who may continue in the program for up to 3 years (until primary school age). In our program, your child will have the opportunity to explore self-directed learning, build independence, and grow their self-esteem.
Our classrooms have a three-year age mix specifically designed so older children can help younger ones, younger children can observe more advanced work, and all students can develop a sense of respect for one another.
Requirements for Our Casa Program
When considering if your child is ready for our preschool program, please ask yourself the following questions:
- Can my child use the toilet independently most of the time?
- Does my child have some ability to manipulate clothing and dress themselves?
- Can my child feed themselves at mealtimes?
We find that children require a certain level of independence to be comfortable in a Montessori education program. Even if your child meets the minimum age requirements, they should be able to manage the tasks above before joining our preschool program.
Montessori Casa and Preschool Program
Our Montessori programs for Casa and preschool children focus on the seven traditional areas of learning. Every classroom is fully equipped with Montessori materials for these different areas, including:
- Language — Children are immediately introduced to reading and writing in our school. We use a phonetic system to help children sound out words and a range of materials and exercises to start practicing writing letters.
- Mathematics — Students will use concrete materials to understand basic mathematical concepts, such as numbers, symbols, operations, decimals, algebra, geometry, fractions, and more. We allow children to move at their own pace through math-related exercises.
- Practical Life — These child-sized materials are designed to help our students understand simple day-to-day adult activities, such as dressing, washing, cleaning, and so on. This allows students to acquire life skills and learn how to care for themselves.
- Sensorial — Sensorial materials help students to understand abstract concepts, such as length, volume, depth, etc., using concrete materials that children can manipulate in isolation.
- Culture — Cultural materials allow students to explore geography and the different peoples of the world through maps, puzzles, flags, land and water forms, and more.
- Art & Music — Art and music are integrated into our daily classroom activities with drawing and painting, singing, listening to music, and dance.
- French — We teach our students French in an informal, conversational way. Vocabulary and grammar are introduced through various material and daily activities, including music, movement, storytelling, and general conversation.
About Our Montessori School
Founded in 1996, The Montessori School of Wellington is located at 2 Samuel Drive, Guelph, in a beautiful residential neighbourhood.
In each of our classrooms, we have a trained Montessori teacher and a Montessori-trained assistant and/or French teacher, each with their own responsibilities. Our teachers are either A.M.I. (Association Montessori Internationale) or MACTE (Montessori Accreditation Council for Teacher Education) accredited.
In addition, the majority of our teachers hold diplomas in Early Childhood Education and are members of the College of Early Childhood Educators. Each class includes no more than 24 children and maintains a ratio of 1:8 teachers to students.
